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Automating the limiter
Hi MP friends,
Quick question for you!
In a mastering situation — How common is it (in your experience) to automate the gain on the limiter? Like– if a section is hitting the limiter “too hard” do you ever automate less gain for that section? Or if a section feels too quiet do you ever automate a bit more gain? Is this something that mastering engineers do? Just curious!
Thanks in advance for any insights.
Love,
JLew
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2 Replies
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Heck yeah man! No rules. No fear. Whatever it takes to shape the dynamics and manifest your sonic vision!
I always try my best to bake those “master bus” automation moves into the mix – that way, if someone else is mastering, I won’t be dependent upon them for those micro moves, and they can just focus on tone and macro dynamics, i.e. the overall limiting.
That said … sometimes your carefully crafted mix dynamics (i.e. quiet verse, loud chorus) will get flattened out by limiters used in mastering. After all, that’s the limiter’s job – to reduce dynamics and increase loudness.
So when needed, I will automate the OUTPUT gain of the last limiter on the mix buss or mastering chain to achieve the specific dynamic shape I want. Rick Rubin calls this technique the “slippery fader.” He might say something to me like, “maybe try some slippery fader on those choruses so they really jump out.”
While you could achieve this by physically/manually riding a fader or knob, this is one instance where (gasp!) I prefer using a mouse instead of a fader. If the limiter’s output for my loud choruses is at 0db, for example, I will change my track settings to view the limiter’s output automation, select my verse sections, and trim them down to like -1.5db. Then I’ll audition the volume change and make sure the automation breakpoints are exactly where they should be – musically – to disguise the sudden moves.
Here’s a short playlist I made a while back demonstrating the “slippery fader” technique. The first song by Green Day is the first time I ever noticed this trick in the wild, back when we were in high school. The second song by Pom Poms is a mix of mine where I employed the same trick.
Enjoy and good luck “slippin'” those faders!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6bZXOPJ4869mJVLFqlGGqV?si=f0c5e98ec6964ec3
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Yoooo!!! Thanks man! SUUUUPER helpful!!!
This question was in reference to my track w/ the vibes, which I actually already had used the “slippery fader” trick on in my mix bus! haha
As I was mastering it I STILL felt that the really quiet ambient parts needed to come up in volume, just to limit the dynamic range a bit more. It’s so interesting — all of the psychological and sonic magic involved in mixing to get things to feel good on speakers or headphones. When I was in the woods playing live all of those super dynamic parts felt so good, but then when translating that very same performance to speakers the really quiet sections feel like they need some extra support/volume to make them feel more like the energy of actually playing live. It’s all just so fascinating!
I’m really glad to hear you confirm that this is is OK, and that it’s something that you do.
As a sidenote — I’ve noticed with the vibraphone, particularly in the low midrange — when they cross the threshold of the limiter (im using fabfilter L2) they cause much more distortion than my guitar transients do. If I had to guess I think it’s because the attack of the vibraphone with the mallets lasts longer than the pick hitting the guitar string. And in such an intimate setting, I really have to be careful not to let the vibes hit the limiter (whereas with drum beats, etc. I think they might mask the distortion better)
Thanks for your quick and very informative response!
Love,
JLew
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